Combiner Wars Wave 6 Smoke Screen : Figure Review

Combiner Wars Wave 6 Smoke Screen : Figure Review

Combiner Wars Wave 6 Smoke Screen : Figure Review
FINAL OPINION: ADD TO COLLECTION

so what we have here is Smoke Screen from the Hasbro Transformers Combiner Wars toy line. The big feature of this line is the ability to combine figures together using one voyager class and 4 deluxe figures.

  

So Smoke Screen is a straight up repaint of the Prowl and street wise mold, which has been used five times now for Stunticons Brake-Neck, Dead End, Protectobot Streetwise and Autobot Prowl. This is a bad thing as it is a great mold probably one the best molds the Combiner Wars Line has produced. Plus back in the G1 cartoon days Prowl, Smokescreen and Bluestreak had the same character designs. I love the details on the molds themselves. I think the mold does a good job of presenting you with an alt mode that looks like it was built for speed. There only down side for Smoke screen is because this is a straight repaint the light bar on top is still molded in and can be seen even though the car is mostly red. Its minor but it’s really the only downside for smoke screen.

As with all deluxe Combiner Wars figures they have a leg mode, an arm mode and a robot mode. Which works just fine for Smoke Screen since it’s just a repaint of a great mold. Every deluxe comes with a hand foot gun which works as hand (left or right), a foot and a gun (kind of). Smoke Screen Comes with the same triple barrel shotgun as did Prowl and Streetwise. Although I much prefer the silver paint used on SmokeScreen’s shotgun. Robot mode looks the same as Prowl only in Smoke Screen Red and blue colours.

The figure itself has a rotating head, elbow bend, shoulder rotation, waist swivel, thigh swivel, leg rotation, and knee bends, so a healthy selection of articulation within this mold.

We have seen this mold four times before and it's still and great mold. The weird thing is thinking of Smoke Screen as a combiner which he never was back in the G1 days and just seems a bit forced. The figure is great but where are my Predacon and Terracon combiners, you know actual G1 combiners that are the only ones left to produce. Anyway that’s another discussion for another time. If you haven’t got a Smoke Screen Figure in this price range this is a good one to pick.

   

FINAL OPINION: ADD TO COLLECTION

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Soul Eater Not: Review - Not is definatly the word

Soul Eater Not: Review - Not is definatly the word

Review: Soul Eater Not

Released: UK ???

Platforms: 

FINAL OPINION: WATCHABLE

So a couple of weeks ago I heard that there was another Soul Eater anime. When I heard this I was as happy as I never knew they created another Soul Eater anime. All Kinds of things were going through my mind. Such as is it a continuation, all new story or maybe they went the Full Metal Alchemist route and re-did it to more closely follow the manga. Either way I just needed to see this latest anime. So after some searching and reading on Wikipedia I realised the anime has been out for some time and has been dubbed by Funimation. After doing some searching I managed to find all 12 episodes on YouTube in full with no crappy editing to stop the video from being taken down. I was quite sad to see only 12 episodes for this anime and by the end I was 50/50 on the idea of more episodes.      

Soul Eater Not lives up to its name in the fact that if you are going into this with fond memories of the original series you may be quite disappointed with what you find here. I’m going to say from the start this is not the Soul Eater that you know, as this series is very different in tone than the original. This series is a prequel / side story to the original. The main cast of the original take a back seat and make mostly cameo like appearances. Soul Eater Note stars three main female protagonists Tsugumi Harudori is a halberd demon weapon, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. Tsugumi Harudori is indecisive about which one of them to choose as her partner meister. All three girls go to the DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Academy), which is an institution for humans who are born with the power to turn into weapons and the wielders of these weapons, called meister. There are two types of class. The EAT students (Especially Advantaged Talent) train themselves to become warriors of justice, the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class is for those who just want to control their powers with the intent to not become a threat to others and to themselves.

The tone of this series to me is more along the lines of other anime that play a lot on breast jokes and girls in short skirts, however there are moments where the original Soul Eater pokes its head in. unfortunately those moments don't last long. There isn’t a lot of action in this and as the episodes went on it became harder to watch as the short skirt and breast jokes kept popping up, but that doesn’t mean that the show wasn’t any good. Even though only twelve episodes Soul Eater Not still told a great story and developed the three main characters pretty well. Towards the end of the show it gets good and I mean original Soul Eater good, but unfortunately once it does it ends.

For me the animation for the show was very good, but doesn't use the same style as the original show. My biggest grip with the animation was the original main characters seemed older than they should be since this is a prequel it comes across as odd, just watch the first episode and see what I mean. The music used is really satisfying and doesn't disappoint.

The drawbacks of Soul Eater Not are that once it gets good it ends. Twelve episodes just isn’t enough, however still does manager to tell a satisfying story. On top of this its biggest drawback is that it's not the original. Yeah it pokes its head every now and then but it's simply not the original and that's what people will instantly compare it to. The new show is so far from the original and Soul eater fans will find themselves disappointed with what they find. As Long as you keep this in mind the show is worth a watch. Even though this is some kind of prequel if you have never watched Soul Eater watch the original first, it's one of the best anime out there.       

FINAL OPINION: WATCHABLE

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One Punch Man: Anime Thoughts

One Punch Man: Anime Thoughts

When I first heard of One Punch Man I wasn’t entirely interested. I mean a person that defeats his enemies with one punch doesn’t sound thrilling. On top of that I after seeing screenshots of the anime it just looked like another dopey anime. Then I saw a video on YouTube of a fight scene it looked great. Turns out that anime fight scene was from One Punch Man, so I had to go check it out.

The story takes place in the fictional Japanese metropolis of City Z. The world is full of strange monsters that mysteriously appear and cause disasters. Saitama, the protagonist, is an incredibly powerful hero who can easily defeat the monsters or other villains with a single punch. However, due to his overwhelming strength, Saitama has become bored with his powers and is constantly trying to find stronger opponents who can present a challenge to him.

Saitama

Genos

I’ve only seen 6 episodes One Punch Man so far and I’m enjoying very much. Yes it is crazy, dopey and over the top but that what makes it good. In fact One Punch Man is an anime that I’m 100% hoping that the villain wins before they meet there inevitable end. There are three things I could say about One Punch Man that makes it such a great anime to watch. Firstly the animation is one the best animated anime I’ve seen in a long time. The animation is crisp, clean, and nicely. Secondly its dopiness is also what makes this anime work. From the first episode this anime had me laughing from the crab in under pants to the kid with a very weird chin. All the way down to Saitama who has this dopey bored facial expression on his face one moment and an ass kicking face the next. Third most important to me the fight scenes especially the ones that involve Genos who brings in a lot of flashy looking fight scenes. This goes along with my first point about the animation the fights are just fantastically animated I find myself watching some of those fights over and over again especially the fight between Saitama and Genos.

I don’t have much else to say as I’m still watching the anime, but from what I have seen so far it’s an anime that’s worth watching and my just be one the best anime of recent times.

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#70201 LEGO Legend of Chima: Chi Eris Ultra build figure set Review

#70201 LEGO Legend of Chima: Chi Eris Ultra build figure set Review

As I mentioned in my review of Chi Razor I have become very fond of these Lego Bionicle/ Hero Factory ultra build style figures. Recently I picked three figures from the Legend of Chima set as they very good looking figures.

The Eris figure is much like the Razor figure with a few noticeable differences. Firstly Eris has a completely different head mold, which looks really good. Secondly the colour scheme is very different from Razor with more whites, blues and gold’s. The Eris character is based on an eagle much like Razor was based on a crow. With the colour scheme and head mold combined Eris is a very incredible looking hero character. I have to give credit to the overall body mold as with just a few changes you either have a great looking hero character or a fantastic looking villain character.

 

Eris weapon of choice is a very good looking axe the fits the character nicely. Interestingly enough the blade pieces of the axe are the same pieces that are used for Razor’s scythes. I find it pretty cool how these ultra builds reuse pieces for different uses and/or parts. I truly love the colour scheme of this figure it along with the head mold makes it a good looking hero character. The dominant white mixed with blue and gold makes the figure stand out a little and with the head mold makes it different enough from Razor.   

Just like Razor this figure is easy to put together and can be done within 10 to 15 minutes. As for the articulation of the figure (as if you don’t already know) is the same as Razor’s, so nothing different here. Personally I have no real issues with figure articulation and I’ve been to perform many different poses with the figure.

So now for the bad, well there aren’t very many truly horribly bad things to say. If you have watched an episode of legend of chima (like I did before reviewing this) then you’ll notice that Eris ultra build figure head mold looks nothing like Eris. In the series Eris is a female character and the figure we have here looks very much like a very dominant male eagle type character. Now don’t get me wrong the figure as it is great, but if you’re looking for a ultra build figure that looks like its TV counterpart you’re not going to find it here. With this figure being the exact same mold as the Razor figure it has the same issue with the back. My gripe which you can see in one of the pictures is the back of the figure is pretty much left open. I mean there is nothing there. Whereas the front looks great the back just looks unfinished. A simple back piece would have been nice to cover that up like they did with some of the other figures in this set.

With only two minor gripes this figure is still a great figure and my final conclusion is no different to the Razor figure.  I love the white, blue and gold colour scheme and Eris looks like a great hero character. There is plenty of articulation and the figure doesn’t take long to put together. Any fan of these types of Lego build figures should look at picking these Legends of Chima figures up. They are pretty cheap to buy and at just £10 per figure you can’t really go wrong with them. Oh did I mention also that these figures can also be combined to create a somewhat powered up or fusion type character. 

 FINAL OPINION: AWESOME

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#70205 LEGO Legend of Chima: Chi Razor Ultra build Review

#70205 LEGO Legend of Chima: Chi Razor Ultra build Review

Chi Razor

Recently I have become very fond of these Lego Bionicle/ Hero Factory ultra build style figures. They’re pretty cool looking, have a lot of articulation, and are great to pose with. Now I know nothing about the Legend of Chima characters, setting, TV show etc. However after quickly growing fond of the Hero factory figures (another series which I know nothing about) I found these figures to be equally as interesting.

Razor looking down upon his foe Eris.

Twin red Scythes for the win.

Out of the three figures I picked up Chi Razor was one of the first. Simply because I think he is the coolest looking and I love the colour purple and black colour scheme. From the beginning after dumping out all the pieces to build Chi Razor, which there aren’t very many. The build only took around 10 to 15 minutes to build which is great for people that don’t have lot of time to spend build these and quickly lets you get into posing and messing around with the figure. With so few pieces I was surprised at the outcome of the figure it just looks absolutely fantastic. From head to toe Chi Razor looks great and I can’t hardly fault the figure. 

What made this figure my first and favorite choice wasn’t just the colour scheme it was the type of character it is and also the wing design on its back, which too looks amazing. The wings can be folded pretty easily and I’m sure everyone will found a pose that they love with this figure. What really helps with not just the posing of the wings but the entire figure as well is the number of articulation the figure has, which is something I love about this entire Lego series. I had plenty of fun simply posing Chi Razor in different poses. The head sculpt is also pretty cool and Chi Razor also comes with two Scythes for weapons. I have to say the Chi Razor looks like a pretty cool villain.

Razor fighting Eris

For me personally there are only two downsides to this figure one is that the mouth as no articulation to open and close, which is something that I have seen on one of the other figures in this set, but it is strangely not present in this figure. I feel that this figure could have benefited a little more if it did have that type of articulation. My gripe which you can’t see in any of these pictures is the back of the figure is pretty much left open. I mean there is nothing there. Whereas the front looks great the back just looks unfinished. A simple back piece would have been nice to cover that up like they did with some of the other figures in this set.

Good vs Evil Face off

With only two minor gripes this figure is still my favorite out of the six in this set.  I love the black and purple colour scheme and he looks like a great villain character. There is plenty of articulation and the figure doesn’t take long to put together. Any fan of these types of Lego build figures should look at picking these Legends of Chima figures up. They are pretty cheap to buy and at just £10 per figure you can’t really go wrong with them. Oh did I mention also that these figures can also be combined to create a somewhat powered up or fusion type character. 

 FINAL OPINION: AWESOME

             

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Yeah its raining time to go outside.

Yeah its raining time to go outside.

Nothing like a rainy day for the gears team. Usually I wouldn’t take figures outside while it’s raining to take photos however, this I’ll make an exception for the gears team.  I thought they would be an interesting set of figures to take photos of during the rain.   

Created by NECA and apart from one (cog soldier or carmine if you will on the far left of the first picture) each of these figures is based on Gears of War 3. Each one looks fantastic the level of detailed is really good in this latest line of figures. Apart from better detail the latest figures also have an improved level of articulation in various areas of the figure. The level of detail especially in the faces (just look at Marcus) is truly immense and shows the level of effort that has gone into these figures.

In terms of accessories you get the usual with these line of figures such as lancers, retro lancers, pistol, flame throwers, and shotguns. The accessories vary depending on which figure you get furthermore, there are also gold version of both the lancer and retro lancer.

If you like your figures and a Gears of War fan then you can’t go with these well detailed and articulated figures. The best thing about these figures is the cost isn’t very high in fact they are pretty cheap to get depending on where you get them. They usually range from £11.99 to £19.99 or more, which is nothing compared to the sky high prices the Play Arts Kai line by Square Enix usually goes for. Best of all your more likely to find these figures online or in stores unlike the play arts which I tend to find in short supply after a while. 

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